Chapter 236: Hilarious Hazards and Unlikely Heroes

Xia Qing widened her eyes, struggling to hold back laughter as she wanted to ask Yang Jin how he even knew the yellow weasel’s gas was so foul. Yang Jin just replied:

“It let out its toxic gas in Evolver Forest. The stench made a bunch of people throw up. The one who got hit head-on? Completely knocked out.”

“Is everyone okay now?” Xia Qing asked, suddenly worried.

Yang Jin replied, “He didn’t make it. But he wasn’t one of ours.”

Hearing it wasn’t anyone from the Azure Dragon Unit, Xia Qing figured it must’ve been some other team or force fighting for herbs in Evolver Forest. She relaxed, then found herself wondering whether the guy passed out from the toxins, the stench, or both at once.

Thinking about it more, Xia Qing realized something didn’t add up. “Aren’t folks supposed to wear protective masks in Evolver Forest?”

Was the yellow weasel’s smell really strong enough to get through a filtered protective mask?

Yang Jin answered calmly, “The fight got so intense, his mask broke.”

Luo Pei, overhearing Yang Jin, couldn’t hold back anymore and burst out laughing. “Ha! Hahaha—”

Hearing Luo Ge’s uncontrollable laughter coming from Yang Jin’s phone, Xia Qing figured anything that could crack up usually-stoic Luo Ge had to be legendary. She couldn’t help it anymore either.

Just imagining a yellow weasel knocking people out and making them puke with its gas—that was too much. The more she pictured it, the harder it was to keep a straight face. She finally hung up and slapped the table, howling with laughter.

Suffering from the racket was bad enough, but getting smacked a few times pushed Boss Sheep over the edge. Fuming, he sprang up and rammed Xia Qing’s chair, flipping her to the floor with his horn.

Flat on the ground, Xia Qing kept laughing, drumming her hands on the floor.

Back in Plot One, Yang Jin couldn’t help but grin himself; Xia Qing’s bright, irresistible laugh still echoed in his head. In that good mood, even watching Luo Ge act wild outside his window was less annoying than usual.

Two mornings later, Xia Qing stepped into her courtyard and found a yellow weasel crouched and shivering, pulling out its own fur while under the watchful gaze of three wolves and Boss Sheep. Her first instinct was to hurry and put on her protective mask.

Even as she slipped the mask on, Xia Qing couldn’t help but chuckle. She’d laughed more in the past two days than in the ten miserable years since the calamity. Her cheeks hurt from it.

Hearing her laughter, the yellow weasel, with a few wild chicken feathers stuck to its head, trembled and looked over with big, shiny black eyes.

How could such a tiny, jumpy creature possibly produce enough stink to knock out evolved human fighters? Xia Qing just couldn’t wrap her head around it.

She first gave her respects to the Alpha Wolf. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for sending me this rabbit. I’ll clean it up and cook it for Number Two right away. I have to say, Your Majesty’s squad really doesn’t have any freeloaders. Even this yellow weasel is a master of hidden talents. My admiration runs deep.”

After mentioning the rabbit at the door and seeing the yellow weasel shiver even more, Xia Qing smiled and greeted it, “Morning! Looks like there are even more wild chicken feathers on you today, huh?”

She’d thought about asking the Alpha Wolf if she could recruit this feather-plucker. Now? Not a chance. She just hoped the thing felt her friendliness.

The yellow weasel quivered, picking its fur even faster. Clearly, it didn’t feel all that welcome.

Why didn’t it get the hint?

Message sender: Human

Message recipient: Yellow Weasel

Delivery method: Emotion in the voice and whatever expression peeked out from under the mask

If it could pick up on that, it wouldn’t be an evolved yellow weasel, but an Immortal Weasel Spirit.

Back inside, Xia Qing checked and saw the rabbit was ‘Greenlight’—safe. She didn’t bother contacting Territory Seven for a trade, since this rabbit belonged to her and the sick wolf. She cleaned the rabbit, boiled its innards for the sick wolf, and put the rest in the cellar.

Once the fridge arrived, she’d be able to freeze the meat and make it last a lot longer.

The cellar’s climate control could drop below zero too, but if she set it too cold it’d ruin the grain and potatoes—not worth the risk.

When the rabbit’s innards cooled, Xia Qing laid a couple spinach leaves on the bowl and carried it outside for the wolves. With the wolf pack back, the sick wolf returned to the sheep shed, so she fed them just outside it now.

The yellow weasel had finished its job and slunk away. The Alpha Wolf was outside the sheep shed, tearing into a cleaned chicken. Xia Qing noticed the wound along its side had scabbed over nicely.

Xia Qing called the sick wolf for its meal and handed the Wolf with the Spinal Injury its medicine.

The Wolf with the Spinal Injury still moved a bit slow, but its steps were nearly normal now; with one more round of treatment it’d be as good as new. The sick wolf’s special herbs were back too, so it’d recover soon. That meant Xia Qing’s days of easy food and lazy wolves were nearly over.

To keep everyone fed, she’d have to rely on herself again. As she carried a cage outside, Xia Qing took out her phone to check where the evolved squirrel was—looked like it’d headed off northeast again.

Having survived the Xiang Rain, the evolved squirrel now stopped every morning by Xia Qing’s window for a few sips of spring water before heading out to forage.

Xia Qing locked the cage inside the new chicken enclosure and started making her rounds on the Territory, all the while tracking the squirrel’s location.

A few minutes later, the evolved squirrel briefly returned—stopping for less than a minute before darting away again. On her phone, its red dot quickly moved over four kilometers and turned into a bright red arrow.

Xia Qing hurried into Plot Forty-Nine Area Three, scrambled up a sturdy pine tree through the thick Xiang Grass, and shone her flashlight into a tree hollow.

A wise rabbit has three burrows, but this squirrel was even savvier—living in six different tree hollows all within Area Three.

Xia Qing quickly scooped out a fresh chestnut whose shell was already turning red and hurried off. Back at that spot, her phone now showed the squirrel’s tracker as a stationary red dot, not an arrow.

Nine minutes later, the red dot started moving again. Nestled in the Xiang Grass, Xia Qing spied a streak of red—a fluffy-tailed little guy with its cheeks puffed full of chestnuts and more stashed in its tiny paws, pausing atop a pine branch to survey its kingdom.

Xia Qing didn’t dare move a muscle in the grass. Her field-grade camouflage protective suit blended in perfectly—she was nearly invisible.

The squirrel dropped off more goods and then bounded away.

Xia Qing used to think all the chestnut trees were on Mountain 50, but weeks of observation proved they actually grew here in Plot Forty-Nine’s Area Three—specifically in the Y-shaped valley on her training ground, now dubbed Valley One.

This valley grew more than just chestnuts; it was also the main route the wolf pack used to enter her territory from Evolver Forest.

She checked—this chestnut was ‘Yellowlight,’ safe to eat. Xia Qing decided to organize a team tomorrow to go collect some.

The valley here had a stream and dense foliage. Xia Qing hadn’t explored this area yet, but the Azure Dragon Unit had already cleared out the most dangerous beasts and plants, so dangers were pretty minor.

It may not have giant monsters lurking, but hundreds of mutant water rats could pop out at any time. With the Evolver Forest extra lively after the Xiang Rain, the area was still risky. She’d definitely need a team—and she already knew who she’d ask.